Keels

Next best thing to a new surfboard is some new fins, and via Chris in Hawaii I've scored a pair of keels from Chubbies to try. Interesting keels indeed, obviously quite upright and large- 5" base, 7" height and apparently nearly 1/2" thick! Beautifully foiled with an inside concave and a little like the Spitfire fin I like so well. Less rake should equal some pivoty turns, and I'm interested to see how the thickness affects the feel. The flextail in the picture has been ridden mostly with those modified cutaway keels (a fin template I'd highly recommend to anyone) and they are my baseline so to speak, I had tried it with some standard keels but the Rasta cutaways were noticeably more snappy. The Richard Palmer leaf keels are great, the first pair Mackie sent were too small for my well fed (I prefer 'manly' as an adjective) frame and slid out beautifully, but this pair is the business- definitely loose but never totally letting go (admittedly I never used them in anything over belly to chest high), and with a fantastic springy geel in turns. When keel and tail worked together it was as fun as turning a surfboard gets (and although it may be a sad comment on my life, turning a surfboard is some serious fun to me). Naturally it's gone flat now I have the Chubbies, but a ride report will follow. His site is here and worth checking out- the quad sets look like the business too- maybe a set of Chubbies on the rear, standard quads on the front....